HM Treasury is to make £2 billion available to the Department for Health and Social Care for investments in digital and technology in NHS England.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has included the allocation in the first Budget of the new Government, saying it is intended to increase productivity and save staff time.
The Budget document sets a target for a 2% increase in productivity next year, and emphasises the need for all NHS trusts to have electronic patient records, improve their cyber security and enhance patient access to information through the NHS App.
In her speech to Parliament, Reeves also referred to the expected publication of a 10-year plan for the NHS, which will include details of the shift from analogue to digital, in the spring of next year.
Other spending
The investment will be accompanied by spending in other areas of the NHS, including £1 billion to deal with a backlog of repairs and upgrades and £1.5 billion for new beds in hospitals and capacity for over one million additional diagnostic tests.
Reeves said an overall increase of £22.6 billion in the day-to-day health budget is the largest since 2010 with the exception of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic; but warned it has to come with reform of the health service.
“The state of the NHS we inherited after – and I quote Lord Darzi – “the most austere decade since the NHS was founded”, means reform must come alongside investment,” she said.
